Adrian Cooper
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Posts posted by Adrian Cooper
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5 hours ago, Colin Lindsay said:
The only deviation from standard is to use grease-impregnated tape at either end as protective 'gaiters', just one layer lightly wrapped and held in place with cable ties. Surely this wouldn't be enough to tighten the spring so much, or is it preventing the leaves from settling?
I did this one my Spitfire's spring 30 years ago. When I restored the car 5 years ago I cut it all off to check the spring and It was like new so I put a new covering on. On neither occasion did it have even the slightest effect on the ride hight or the strength of the spring, I'm positive.
Adrian
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Just had next door's chimney pot come through our conservatory roof. The actual pot missed me by about 2 feet but I got showered with glass. Feeling a bit mortal now.
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Hi Rockape,
I measured mine for somebody else a while ago, pictures of the three bars with measurements below. You should be able to get a good idea of the bar thickness from these too. Adrian
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I finished all the welding, prep and spraying of my hardtop last summer and I had the headlining material in stock (Supplied by our very own Pete Lewis) but it has taken me months to pluck up the courage to finish the job. Fabric is just not my thing.
Fortunately, my wife is a gifted dressmaker and she was able to offer some good advice and encouragement.
Firstly you will need some Dressmaker's Interfacing to make the pattern, some good contact adhesive (I used a spray can of the stuff), a white or black marker pen (contrasting colour to whatever colour of interfacing you buy) and as many clamps, clips and clothes pegs as you can find.
Place your hardtop upside down on a cushioned table and very carefully measure and mark the halfway points on the front edge and each of the stay bars. You can see from the pictures that I had glued some sound deadening material to the underside of the hardtop and I would recommend this, it does eliminate that characteristic 'clang' every time you close the doors.
Cut a piece of the interfacing slightly bigger than the area that you are starting with and position a straight edge of it along the centre line of the hardtop. Hold it in place with as many clips as you can and do your best to flatten out all the creases and folds. Use tape too, I wish I had.
This was my first mistake, I used a very crumpled piece of interfacing and I found it difficult to get it to lay flat, I really should have tried harder because accuracy at this stage does save much time and frustration later on. Very carefully mark on the interfacing where it rests on the middle of the stay bar and round the edges of the hardtop. Note that you are only doing half of the hardtop, from the centre line to one edge and I made a pattern for each of the four panels in the same way.
My second mistake was allowing generous extra material where the two panels meet at the door aperture (where the yellow clothes peg is in the above picture) My thinking was that it would be best to have too much material rather than too little. The better option would be to measure and mark it accurately.
Once all the panels have been marked and carefully cut out you lay them onto the back of the headlining material, having first folded the material double.
This dressmakers trick gives you the complete shape from just a half pattern, just remember to line the centre line edge of the pattern with the folded edge of the material. Then mark around the patterns remembering to allow an extra 2 cm of 'seam allowance' along any edge that will be sewn to another piece and to allow an extra 2cm for the 'pockets' that the stay bars will go through. Now cut out the shapes being careful to keep the folded material from shifting as you cut, pinning the patterns through both thicknesses of material helps here.
At this stage I allowed even more spare material round the patterns, which was my third mistake. Once you have finished cutting you take out the pins, unfold the material and you should have four pieces like this.
Next you pin the pieces together, face down, so that you can sew along the joins and along the 'pockets'.
My long-suffering wife took pity and did the sewing part for me. Next I slid the stay bars into the pockets and refitted the bars into the hardtop, starting with the front bar. This bar fits into two spring clips that hold it in position (you can see them in the first picture) but the other two are free floating to allow you to tension the headlining by pulling it towards the back window.
This was the first trial fit where I noticed that all the extra material that I had allowed was stopping the headlining from pulling taught where the stay bars meet the edge of the hardtop. I had to take it off and resew the material at these points to take up some of the slack. I'm sorry that I forgot to take any more pictures after this point, but the glueing up was relatively easy, Just be careful to mask off anything that you don't want to be covered in glue if you are using spray glue. The eagle eyed will have noticed that the pattern for the rearmost panel ends short of completely surrounding the back window aperture, but the cut out panel does join up. This is because I couldn't decide which was best to do; there will have to be a cut and join under the window because the 3d nature of the hardtop shape means that you can't make this shape from one complete piece of fabric, there will always be too much material. However this is not a problem as the join is almost invisible under the window, and it was the way Triumph did it too.
Refitting the rear window glass was by far the worst part of the job. New glass seals are unavailable but my 56 year old rubber seal for this window was just about usable with plenty of black gutter sealant (I understand that the GT6 rear hatch glass seal is the same size and these are available). The front seal between the hardtop and windscreen rail was also unavailable but I made one from closed cell foam which seems to be fine. The trim rubbers and door glass seals are available and seem to be of reasonable quality. You might find, as I did on one side only, that the rubber seal sticks out too much and pushes the door glass outwards. I trimmed off some of the back of the seal and this solved the problem.
I can't claim that my headlining is perfect and I still have some creasing around the edges above the doors, but if you avoid my mistakes and are more careful in making the patterns there is no reason why you can't end up with a perfect result. Pete's material is top quality and very forgiving and stretchy. I hope this is useful for somebody and that you are encouraged to have a go. Please do ask if there is something that is not clear.
Adrian
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43 minutes ago, NonMember said:
Do you have measurements / description of process for that?
Hi Rob,
Yes, I did take some pictures as I was working. It may be best if I write it up in a new thread?
Adrian
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Hi Rockape,
Attached are some pictures, with measurements, which may help you if you decide to make your own bars. I have just finished restoring my hardtop and I made the headlining using some very high quality fabric supplied by our own Pete Lewis. He may still have some if you want to go completely diy.
Adrian
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Good evening Peter,
My hardtop is suspended from my garage rafters and I'm sure it weighs less than 125lbs as I can carry and fit it to the car on my own.
Adrian
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Welcome Pablo,
What a gorgeous car!
One thing to check is the age of the tyres. The advice is to change them if they are more than 7 years old, regardless of tread depth, condition etc (the date of manufacture is marked on the tyre) Beyond 7 years the rubber tends to harden and grip is significantly reduced, and the fact that the car has sat in one position between one MOT and the next could have created 'flat spots' that may cause a vibration when you are driving. If it were my car I would change the brake seals, fluid and flexible hoses too. I agree with the opinions of my learned colleagues about unleaded fuel and I've had no problems with my original head in more than 40,000 miles of spirited driving.
Use it and enjoy it!
Adrian
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Hello Roger,
I replaced the original fusebox with 2x 12 way modern blade fuse boxes and put relays on everything; it took me weeks. I'm very glad I did it but if I were doing it again I would use something like this, where all the hard work is already done for you https://www.carbuilder.com/uk/cbs-12-circuit-wiring-module.
Adrian
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Gully, can you say more about your sticking pushrod theory? You may just have found the explanation to the mystery noise that has had me baffled for nearly 20 years!
Adrian
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Welcome to the Forum Hugh.
I presume that you have spotted these Ebay sun visor bits? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Assortment-of-Sun-Visor-Brackets-for-1960s-Triumphs-Spitfire-MkI-II-TR4/303695458731?hash=item46b5a8f1ab:g:EKgAAOSwcgdfZIrQ
Adrian
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Hi Lance,
I had this problem and I sorted it myself by fitting a smaller diameter copper pipe inside the perforated pipe. I did this more than 30 years ago and I'm afraid I can't remember the pipe dimension but it probably was 15mm. I thought about using a heat transfer compound (the sort of stuff used between computer processors and heat sinks) but it was a very tight fit and it didn't seem necessary. It's been fine ever since.
Adrian
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That is a really lovely example of a MK2 with everything original and just like it came from the factory. I'm really glad that it exists and that somebody has spent so much effort to make such a perfect example, but I wouldn't buy it, or even want to own it and I can't imagine why anybody would. I'll explain myself by relating how I spent today. I got up early and was on the road to Brands Hatch, in my Mk 2 Spitfire, before 8am for a day of watching mixed club racing. From Eastbourne that's a drive of about 90 minutes and I really enjoyed keeping up with the pace of the moderns on the A and B roads and the M25 too. I keep to the speed limits but I drive it in the way it was intended to be driven. Today was perfect top-down weather but I would have taken the Spitfire even if it had been raining. And this is my point; mechanically, my car is how I want it to be. I have cut out all the rust and replaced anything suspect with strong repairs. It has modern electrics. However, my comedy respray could be used as a teaching aid for all the possible faults that you can get with poor spray technique and that stops me getting too precious about the car. It will never be perfect and I have made too many modifications for it to be an 'example of the breed' and so it isn't an investment either. It's my daily transport and I really enjoy driving it.
I'm sure that I wouldn't be happy driving this perfect Spitfire as I would always be feeling that every mile makes it less perfect without hours of cleaning and touching-up every week and it could only be a "garage queen'. Some people might see it as an investment and I'm sure that values will continue to rise for a few years but what happens when petrol becomes less widely available? How long do we think that we have left of the current availability? 10 years? less? Perhaps it could be converted to electric but that would rob it of all its charm for me, and so it isn't really a sound investment either.
So, not only wouldn't I swap my shabby looking Mk2 for this one I can honestly say that I wouldn't want it at any price. It isn't a sports car it's a museum piece and the responsibility of ownership is too great.
Adrian
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The conventional wisdom, started by the great John Kipping and found to be true by many others, is that differentials don't knock or vibrate. The diff on my Spitfire has quite a few degrees of rotation before making the half-shafts move too and it is still very quiet in operation.
You can't really tell how worn the UJs are until you have unbolted them and removed the spring loading. I really would urge you to change the joints before spending huge amounts on a reconditioned diff, especially as you have the new UJs already. You'll find all the encouragement and moral support you could wish for on here.
Adrian
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Crikey! That pump top has broken off!
Did that happen on the car, whilst driving? That's a new low in crap replacement parts.
Horrified.
Adrian
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4 hours ago, Pete Lewis said:
yes supplied 5 members so far from a roll i have
And excellent stuff it is too, thoroughly recommended.
Adrian
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4 hours ago, JohnD said:
How on the gods' Earth do the Americans make a thousanth, a "mil"?
In the same way that the French, Italians, Spanish etc do; probably from the Latin 'Milia' meaning Thousand. Although the exact route is one for your legendary Googling skills John.
Adrian
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Good morning Colin,
This problem with replacement fuel pumps providing too much pressure is not new. I bought a new pump from John Kipping, just before a drive to Paris with the lady who is now my wife, so that must have been more than 20 years ago, and it made my carburettors flood. I bought another pump from Moss (or TRGB, I can't remember) and it was even worse. The solution was to fit a Malpassi Filter King pressure regulator and filter combined. It solved the problem and it is still on my car all these years later. Demon Tweeks has them on special offer at the moment https://www.demon-tweeks.com/uk/malpassi-filter-king-fuel-pressure-regulator-and-filter-243259/ but they may be even cheaper on ebay.
Rob's advice on fitting the pump is spot-on and it is actually quite hard to get the lever on the wrong side of the cam.
Good luck
Adrian
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1 hour ago, Paul H said:
For any future oil changes I’m thinking of modifying a filter cutting a hole in the top , removing the innards so it will act as a funnel to backfill like I did for this exercise without the need to move the filter housing
This is a great idea Paul, please include it in the write-up.
Just thinking about what could have caused this in the first place (nothing to do with the filter, I'm sure). The oil has obviously drained out of the pump and I wonder if leaving the old filter in place until all the oil has drained from the sump might stop the outflowing oil from sucking air into the pump from the open filter mounting? Probably total nonsense but I can't think of any other reason for this situation. Anyway, next oil change I will drain the sump before changing the filter and use Pauls modified filter to apply Poppyman's backfilling solution and keep all my fingers crossed.
Love a happy ending!
Adrian
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Brilliant news!
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Good morning Ian,
I chose a different approach as I wanted to use a switch that matched the fan switch on my Spitfire. I ran a fused, permanently live supply to a new 4x21w flasher unit and connected the output via the switch to the Green/white & Green/Red wires at the base of the steering column to feed the 4 indicators plus a tell tale light next to the switch. There have to be diodes between these connections and the wires that run back to the column indicator switch and another diode between the original flasher and the column switch, Light Green/Brown wire (otherwise power would run back to the ignition circuit if the indicator switch was on whilst the hazard lights were running. Does that make sense? I've attached a diagram I found online but it doesn't show the third diode in the flasher supply which I think is essential. Really simple and cheap.
Adrian
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Another vote of confidence for the Mann filters from me. I use the 714/2 without any problems and oil pressure comes up in about 3 seconds. And a thumbs up for Poppyman's suggestion of how to prime the pump from above down the filter hole, I presume that is via the holes around the circumference and not the big hole in the middle?
Adrian
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On 22/06/2020 at 13:17, SixasStandard said:
I started a similar thread re: 3D printing on the Alpine Owners site a couple of years back which failed to get much response. I suggested that it might be worth gauging interest from some Colleges or Universities with more commercial grade 3D printing equipment to see if a commercial relationship with Owners Clubs could be developed to manufacture and sell small batches of unavailable components. It would be good if there were a few classic car nuts in the engineering departments of these institutions, that would perhaps grease the cogs a bit. As you point out the possibilities of this technology are incredible, including laser sintering of stainless steel, so potentially just about anything can be remanufactured.
We had a similar experience on here. Pete started a thread asking for suggestions for parts that were unobtainable and which could be 3D printed and not much came of it. The idea came from a general dissatisfaction with the fact that you had to buy a complete door handle assembly for a Mk4/1500Spitfire-Mk3GT6 when it was just the plastic control rod that caused the failure. My son Louis copied the design of the rod and printed a couple of versions in different materials as a 'proof of concept' and Doug and Barry kindly fitted them in their cars and tested them to destruction. Having proved that the design was dimensionally accurate, my son uploaded the file to an online printing service where people can have it printed in stainless steel. To date, more than 40 people have (including our Barry I think) and there have been no reported failures. So the process does work. I would suggest that the dedicated online printing services are the way to go rather than the club getting involved in any part of the manufacture as this is all they do and they do it really well. Before lockdown my son was just about to start helping out in the 3D printing workshop at the Advanced Engineering department of Brighton University as their facilities were not even as good as he has at home (all home-made or hugely modified)
John starting this thread is very timely as Louis has just finished 3D modelling the unobtainable hardtop mounting brackets for the early Spitfires and they illustrate the situation very clearly. They are dimensionally accurate but were extremely complicated to model from scratch and the task took Louis more than 10 hours before he was happy. This will always remain the problem, even with 3D scanning technology progressing so quickly, you will always need someone who really knows what they are doing to create or fettle the 3D file and make sure that it is fit for purpose. Here is a picture of a low resolution test print of the mounting bracket next to the real thing. When these are printed in stainless steel at full resolution they will be as good or better than the original part.
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Welcome Clive, good luck with the hunt!
March 2022 courier
in Forum Announcements
Posted
My mag arrived today too. I always head for Colin's article first, Trevor's Specials section next and then the East Sussex area news. Andy Cook's re-trim walk through is good too this month. However, the magazine is in the recycling within 15 minutes of opening and that really bothers me, I'd opt out of receiving it if I could. I would be much happier reading those bits online.
As Clive said earlier, I'm wondering whether my membership is worth renewing. I don't visit the website, Footman James offers me agreed value insurance based on my valuation of my Spitfire, the disposability of the magazine makes me feel guilty and I can read as much of Colin's excellent prose, amongst many others, on this forum.
Perhaps Rob has been right all along.
Adrian